Keeping the amount of fat in the body of a human at a proper amount is necessary in preventing adult diseases and the like to maintain human health. In keeping the amount of such body fat at a proper amount, it is necessary to keep daily energy (calorific value) intake, basal metabolism, exercise, digestion/absorption of food, and the like in balance. Exercise such as walking or running can be done in everyday life as a calorific value-consuming means. There are various instruments with which one can know the relationship between such exercise and the amount of exercise or the amount of calorific value consumed by the exercise or with which one can know the amount of fat in his or her body.
Among such instruments there is known a passometer (generally called a “pedometer”), which handily allows the user to know the amount of exercise done in walking or the amount of calorific value consumed by walking. Such a passometer is an instrument to be fitted on a waist part of a human body for counting the number of steps involved in walking or running. The passometer is capable of estimating a consumed calorific value based on a steps count and necessary personal data items such as stride, weight, and age. A passometer of another type is adapted to measure a time period taken to walk or run to find an average speed per unit time, based on what it estimates to be a consumed calorific value.
On the other hand, there is a body fat determining device as an instrument capable of determining the body fat weight or body fat ratio of a human body. The body fat determining device is adapted to determine the body fat weight or body fat ratio of a person from the bioimpedance of the person, which is the impedance of the person's body measured with electrodes brought into contact with parts of the body, and necessary personal data of the person such as the weight, height, and age of the person.
Further, there is a training device employing a cycle ergometer. This training device is adapted to provide training according to a menu which is established to include exercise corresponding to a predetermined amount of exercise or a consumed calorific value. Some of such training devices are provided at their respective handle portion with electrodes for determining the body fat ratio of a trainee.
With the aforementioned passometer, the user can know an amount of exercise or consumed calorific value based on the number of steps counted and is allowed to do exercise such as walking in accordance with a target amount of exercise or the like. However, the user cannot know a change in the fat amount in his or her body caused by the exercise measured.
Since it is believed that the so-called abdominal visceral fat, which is body fat of the type adhering to internal organs and their peripheral portions in an abdominal part of a human body, is closely correlated with adult diseases and the like, a device capable of obtaining information about such abdominal visceral fat, in particular of body fat, is needed.
The aforementioned conventional body fat determining device is capable of determining a body fat ratio or the like on a whole body basis, but is not capable of obtaining information about fat focused in the visceral part, in particular, of a human body. Thus, a device is needed which is capable of obtaining such information about fat in the visceral part of a human body. It would be desirable that such a device be of the portable type which allows an individual to carry it in everyday life, but not a large-scale instrument to be installed in a sports center or the like.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device which is capable of determining the amount of exercise done in walking or like exercise while obtaining quantitative information about visceral fat in the abdominal part of a subject and which can be used handily as carried with the subject every day.